Looking for iPhone Software Professionals?

Posted on October 4, 2008 by schwa

The problem:

I make my living by writing iPhone and Mac OS X for hire. I’ve been doing this for a while with some level of success. But ever since the iPhone SDK was announced earlier this year I’ve been getting many, many more work enquiries than I could possibly handle. I’ve often referred enquiries to friends who I have either worked with in the past or whose work I respect. But this ad-hoc system doesn’t scale very well.

The Solution:

To try and make this informal referral approach work I’ve set up a private invite only Google Group called “iPhone Software Professionals”. Currently this group is made up of a handful (more than 10 less than 1000) software developers who specialise in iPhone development (although I’d say all are equally capable on Mac OS X). The group is made up of either people I have worked with personally (and would love to work with again) or people whose work has generated such a reputation that I would have no problem recommending them to a potential client.

The list is currently made up of software developers but I would like to open it open it up to any independent professional involved in the production of iPhone software. This includes, but is not limited to usability experts, graphic designers, quality assurance experts and so on.

The group will probably remain quite small, with new members invited and referred only by current members. There is no commission or finder’s fee involved, the group is just an informal group of professionals forwarding work that would otherwise be rejected.

Looking for an iPhone Software Professional?

So if you have some iPhone software that needs to be written then I think I might be able to find someone to help you out. I might be able to help you myself, but if I have more work than I can handle (which currently is very likely) I’ll forward your request to the group. Either way contact me directly at iphoneswpro@toxicsoftware.com and I’ll try make sure your software gets written.

Update

Please do not request an invite directly via Google Groups. See http://toxicsoftware.com/iphoneswpro/ for information on how to join the group. Essentially it helps if you or your work is known and respected by myself or other members of the group. You can use the email address to send a request directly to me.

If you’re not invited into the group please do not take it personally. I’m trying to keep a good balance between job leads posted to the group and freelancers able to consume the job leads. If the balance is good (or there are too few job leads) we will not be adding new developers to the group.

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  • raminf
    Excellent idea (my wise-ass twit notwithstanding :-)

    Perhaps there's a way to link this effort to http://www.macyenta.com/ -- where there seems to be a solid list of both devs and designers.
  • Haha.

    Well I think Macyenta and my list serve different purposes.
  • This is a great idea, it's like an agency but without the shared destiny thing (and hopefully, without the drama).

    Have you thought about adding independent designers and artists to the list? This could be helpful for projects where icons or custom UI is involved, and the developer might not know anyone or might not know who's free.
  • I think that's a great idea. I often have clients asking me if I can recommend a designer.
  • Steve
    Personally i think more money is to be made writing my OWN iPhone apps rather than working for other people. Maybe this is why iPhone developers are hard to find - the good ones are working already for themselves. When one game developer can make 250K in three months, it makes sense to strive for that on your own.

    I for one will not work for others when I can make the way more money working for myself.
  • Good for you.
  • Steve
    Do you have a comment? Do you not agree? Does it take a great idea and hard work to make a living doing this and thus some need to work for others?
  • Not every application is going to make $250,000 in three months. Or even in three years. A lot of people are doing very well indeed, I personally know quite a few people doing great. But it takes skill, energy, intelligence and a certain amount of luck.

    As for difficulty finding developers, that's more to do with the fact there's an incredible demand for developers rather than all developers are off writing their own apps.

    If you feel you'll be better rewarded writing your own apps go for it. But it really isn't anything to do with this blog post.
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